Fifty-six teams vie for best in the world

Like soccer in 1930 and rugby in 1987, a new event in 2022 will seek to crown the best sailing nation. The top 56 sailing nations, selected with a proprietary ranking system, will battle their way through for the chance to raise sailing’s ‘World Cup’ trophy.

The Star Sailors League (SSL), founded in 2013 as an international regatta circuit with the goal to promote the athletes and sailing in a simple format, is taking it to the next level. Privately funded by Michel Niklaus, the SSL Gold Cup is ready to launch.

Initially announced in October 2018, planning for the SSL Gold Cup has been slowed due to the pandemic, leading to a one year delay. But the pieces are now in place, with the teams to compete in the equally matched SSL47, which is a modified RC44.

Eleven sailors on each national team, including women and men, will be selected through their national SSL ranking but also their Captain’s choice, with no financial nor technological barriers.

All athletes come from Olympic classes, Match Racing, or the America’s Cup. All nations, from leading sailing countries like Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, or USA will race at the same level as the small ones such as Guatemala, Slovenia, Tahiti, or Estonia.

The SSL Gold Cup 2022 will start on May 19 with the Qualifying Series in Grandson, Lake Neuchatel (Switzerland). All teams ranked from Top 25 to 56 in the January 2022 SSL Nations ranking will meet in 8 groups of 4 teams each. There will be 5 stages of Qualifying Series running from May 19 to July 17.

After 3 to 4 days of racing, only the top two teams of each group will go through to the Final Series that will take place from October 28 to November 20 to defend their national colors.

The Final Series venue will be confirmed by May 24.

“Finally, we will know which is the best Sailing Nation in the World,” noted Mateusz Kusznierewicz, SSL Gold Cup Event Director. “And the SSL Gold Cup will answer that question. The Star Sailors League, all sailors and athletes involved in our sport want to promote our sport. We believe the SSL Gold Cup will be one of the best events to achieve that.

“The SSL Gold Cup will be easy to understand like other popular sports like Football which is our main example to succeed in doing that. We believe the public who will follow the Qualifying Series and all the Final Series rounds, will see the similarities that make the SSL Gold Cup and Sailing as easy as football to understand.”

Live broadcasting May 21 and 22 on YouTube and Facebook at 0430 ET.

Event information – Team list – Race schedule